German automotive company EDAG unveiled a glimpse of what the next automotive manufacturing revolution might look like with the Genesis.
EDAG’s new concept which has gone on show in Geneva will only be made possible by using ‘additive manufacturing’ or large scale 3D printing. The potential of this process will considerably simplify the complexity of the press shop and the layout of sub-assembly production. As additive technology requires very little in the way of fixtures, the production system will react with far greater tolerance to model changes, facelifts and customer-specific product modifications.
Designers used a turtle shell as their inspiration for the overall shape of the car’s body. The internal structure of the car would be 3D printed using a mixture of thermoplastic materials and carbon fibre, a metal casing would then overlay this material to protect the internal frame.
Experts say that this concept is years away from becoming a reality, but the production of components using high-resolution fuse deposition modelling (FDM) machines is feasible today.
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